Abilene High Eagle Basketball Preview 2023-24

The football playoffs at both Abilene High and Cooper might be just around the corner, but November also means the start of basketball season is upon us. All four local varsity teams are getting their seasons started over the course of the upcoming week.

The two girls’ teams will open their seasons Friday, Nov. 3, with Cooper hosting Odessa High at 6 p.m. at Cougar Gym, and Abilene High on the road at L.D. Bell at 6 p.m. The boys’ teams won’t get started until next weekend with Cooper and first-year head coach Michael Bacon hosting Odessa High at 6 p.m. at Cougar Gym and Abilene High playing Del Rio at San Angelo Lake View High School on Saturday at noon.

Here’s a brief look at each team going into the 2023-24 season:

ABILENE HIGH BOYS

The Eagles enter the 2023-24 season in their sixth season under head coach Justin Reese, who is looking to get his team back into the chase for a playoff spot out of District 4-5A. The Eagles have missed the postseason in each of the last two seasons but showed improvement last season.

The Eagles return four starters but will have five sophomores on the varsity, the most of any team in Reese’s 17-year career. Leading the returning players is Demarco Upshaw, a 6-2 guard who was a second team All-District 4-5A selection last season. Upshaw and 6-1 senior forward Bryce Neves are starters on defense for the AHS football team and they won’t join the basketball team until the season ends on the gridiron.

That makes getting the younger players some early experience invaluable if the Eagles are to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Their last district title came in District 3-6A in 2015-16 on the way to finishing 31-5 on the season.

“We are excited about our mix of youth and experience,” Reese said. “Our young guys will have to grow up fast in a tough district. We will need leadership and poise from our guys who have already been in the fire.  We will need our young guys who are new to varsity to be fearless.”

Some of those young players include sophomore guard Jatyran Smith, sophomore guard Myles Osborne, junior guard Payton Shawyer, and junior guard Tyson Thompson. Others are sophomore guard Brooks Reese, 6-2 sophomore guard Brenner Paul, and 6-3 senior forward Josh Melson.

Those players will be the ones Reese will turn to in order to get the Eagles back into the playoffs.

“Our guys are looking forward to the challenge of getting back in the playoffs,” he said. “We know we are going to have to be really physically and mentally tough to get there, so that has been one of our focal points as we prepare.”

Doing it against a tough District 4-5A slate will be no easy task, but one Reese believes his team is ready to tackle.

“The payoff teams from last year will be good again (Monterey, Abilene Cooper, Coronado, and Lubbock Cooper),” he said. “Wylie has a lot coming back from a team that tied for fourth, so I think it’s a wide-open district race. There are a lot of players coming back across our district, so the league is very balanced.  We know every night will be a battle in District 4-5A. But knowing you have to play your best to win will make it fun.”

ABILENE HIGH GIRLS

Going into her third season as the Abilene High Lady Eagles’ head coach, Brenda Andress believes she might have a group ready to change the fortunes of a program that has only made the playoffs three times in the last 10 seasons. It’s because, she believes, a culture is finally starting to take hold inside her program.

“This is a special group that is an absolute joy to coach,” Andress said. “They show up and work hard every day, proving their commitment and hunger to push this program to the next level.” 

The Lady Eagles won a combined 10 games in 2020-21 and 2021-22, including a 6-27 mark in Andress’s first season in 2021-22. The Lady Eagles, however, finished 13-12 last season, hitting one of the goals the program had set before the season.

“We have some measurable goals in our program, one being to go plus-7 again in wins and hit the 20-win mark,” Andress said. “The other goal is to be in the top four of the district to reach our goal of playoffs. But I’ll steal some wisdom from (former UCLA head coach) John Wooden, who said, ‘Our focus and speech is going to be directly aimed in how we approach every practice and every game, more than any win-loss column, knowing if we do that, the end results will fall where they should.’ 

“Reaching the playoffs is a goal for us every year, including this one,” she said. “We understand it begins with how we work in the spring, summer, and fall and how hard we practice every day. So our focus is to be excellent every single day, trusting that good results will follow.”

Andress has some height to work with on her front line, with 6-2 junior center Emily Jordan being joined by 6-1 junior forward Taryn Moore and 5-10 senior forward Samara Padgitt. The backcourt will be led by guards Samia Cooper, Ariana Trevino, and Myra Thomas. Andress also believes sophomore guard Joshlynn Hancock is a player to watch in 2023-24.

To break into the top four, the Lady Eagles will have to break through against the top of the district that is led by state powerhouses Lubbock Monterey (defending champion) and Lubbock-Cooper (reigning Class 5A runner-up). Lubbock Coronado and Lubbock High – which finished third and fourth, respectively, last season – each won at least 20 games.

Not only that, but Monterey is led by the consensus No. 1 player in the country, junior guard Aaliyah Chavez, who averaged 30 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 3.1 steals per game. Chavez is the top-ranked player in the country by ESPN and is one of just 23 Five Star recruits in the country. Yet, she couldn’t get her team past Lubbock Cooper in the playoffs, and the Pirates – led by returning District 4-5A Offensive MVP Majik Esquivel – beat Monterey in the Region I-5A championship game to earn a berth in the state tournament. The Pirates eventually lost to Frisco Liberty in the title game, 57-52.

All of that combines to make District 4-5A one of the toughest districts in the state and the road to snag one of the four playoff spots even tougher. But it’s a challenge Andress believes her team is ready to face.

“Last year was a huge test for our program; a test of perseverance,” she said. “Our team not only survived but, in many ways, thrived. We improved our scoring margin in the second round of district play by 10.5 points. It takes a special group to do that. Among other things, it takes resilient kids with a warrior mentality, and we have that. As I’ve told the girls, ‘Easier is not what we seek.’ We know the district race will be challenging, but we’re excited about it and will use the next six weeks preparing for district games.”